Print/Propaganda

ongoing "street art" work since 1999

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I have had a passion for printing and pasting "street art" for years, using everything from large, multi-colored stencils to photocopies and screenprinted posters. This work can be didactic in nature and sometimes overtly politically motivated, but it has also been important for me to try to convey a sense of hope and encouragement in the messages I put forth. Making the decision to work with what some would term "graffiti" puts your voice up against billions of dollars of advertising - most of it geared towards lowering the self-esteem of the people who see it because they don't look like the people in the ads, don't have the things in the ads, or are otherwise assaulted by consumerism in a way that is anything but constructive to our livelihoods. I am in full support and solidarity with graffiti artists, stencil-ers, sticker-ers, writers, painters, poster-ers, billboard liberators, and anyone else who stands up against the degradation of our collective consciousness by creating street-level public art which challenges the assumed normality of advertising and private use for capital gain.

I have been involved in the Street Art Workers for a few years, and have contributed to the Celebrate People's History poster project. I've also been been fortunate to be involved in a couple of traveling shows of politically motivated print work, as well as having photos of some of this work turn up in books, magazines, and the occasional website. I contributed several stencil templates to the Cut & Paint zine, which are also available to download from their website. Most recently I was a part of a discussion facilitated by Meredith Stern which was transcribed, abridged, and published as a part of the new book Realizing the Impossible: Art Against Authority, edited by Josh MacPhee and Erik Reuland (published by AK Press).